On a Stump In Arkansas

Prompt Write a Poem Before Your Time

On a Stump In Arkansas

When my parents honeymooned at Half Moon Bay and a siamese named “Brew” slept in their bed.

My grandpa flew off a ship and hit his shoulder giving him a pain and a great story for the rest of his life. My parents canoed in a beautiful green wooden canoe, a splurge on their meager salaries and my father was in the army inspecting fish that the soldiers ate, because he was a fisheries biologist and wore glasses, keeping him out of Korea and in Arcata. My mother taught PE at a local high school and ran with me in her belly to show how to kick a soccer ball. Something I would learn in high school too, but never with the grace that my five months pregnant mother could muster.